App Watch: IPhone-Assisted Dates Go Straight

For months, gay men have been using a hugely popular iPhone application, Grindr, to find nearby dates. Now the company behind Grindr is going straight with the more innocently-named Blendr.

The new free app comes weeks after OKCupid, the free dating site, launched an app that lets its members scroll through a list of other members who happen to be close by. Like Grindr, Blendr and OKCupid Locals use the mapping software on iPhones to give you a list of singles (or non-singles, for that matter) who are within walking distance and willing to meet up for, say, a drink.

Blendr

Like Grindr, Blendr will also monitor profiles for inappropriate material like nude photos and profanity. Users can also report others for “offensive content and conduct.” And when necessary, the company will cooperate with authorities to track down people who have broken the law while using the service.

Joel Simkhai, CEO of Grindr, says he thinks people largely use Grindr to form platonic friendships. The fact that its users are all gay men means that they have more to talk about.

Straight people don’t necessarily have that built-in commonality, so signing up for Blendr requires expressing a handful of interests, from cats to Czech. Those interests, along with a photo and some other basic information, are displayed to people nearby interested in meeting up, according to Mr. Simkhai.

“It could be a woman meeting another woman to practice French,” he says. “It could be a 60-year-old guy trying to find a guy to play poker with.”

Imagine, for instance, a scenario in which two people were interested in a convenient French lesson. One would open the Blendr application and scroll through small photos of nearby people. Tapping a photo would open a person’s profile, showing how close the person is—for instance, 300 feet—and other details, like his or her current status. (One beta user’s profile recently offered, “Not sure why I am up at 6am when I only went to bed a few hours ago. Boo!!!”)

If compelled by a certain je ne sais quoi in this person, the Francophile could then tap an icon to send an instant message and perhaps arrange a rendezvous.

Regarding the content of that encounter, Mr. Simkhai says, “As long as you’re being safe and following the law, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it.”

Ashley Bruce, a 30-year-old fashion designer who had early access to Blendr through her friendship with a spokesman for the company, says her gay friends use Grindr to hook up. With Blendr, she hasn’t met anyone yet but plans to use the app mostly to make friends—though she isn’t ruling out other kinds of encounters.

“I always have the option when I meet a person to say yes or no,” she says. “Is it more safe to meet a guy at 4 a.m. at a bar where you’re completely inebriated?